


Me, Myself and I

by jaclinhyde



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-05
Updated: 2014-08-05
Packaged: 2018-02-11 21:17:35
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2083461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jaclinhyde/pseuds/jaclinhyde
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The tenth Doctor is literally caught between a rock and a hard place where his only salvation is in the hands of a few good friends.  He must muster all of his inner courage in the face of an insurmountable challenge or die trying.  Even then will it all come to late to save him?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Me, Myself and I

**Author's Note:**

> Love, passion, pain and sacrifice for Doctor number 10. Close to death he makes a very painful decision.

 

 

 

_** Page 1 ** _

 

** He hated tight spots.Literally that is.The figurative tight spot was something he lived for, it made his hearts race and kept him on his toes.Stuck underground in a mausoleum looking for his screwdriver that fell between a crack in the planets surface above is not what he deemed fun. What was that old earth saying ‘a body at rest tends to stay at rest’?In this pitch black resting place of the dead his body was at rest but he definitely did not want to stay that way.Problem was that he was stuck.Literally stuck between a rock and a very hard place.To pass the time he took up cursing his rotten luck and heaving insults at himself for being so stupid as to get himself in this predicament in the first place.He had more screw drivers in the Tardis but nooo he had to get this one back.It was special (no it wasn’t), he wouldn’t want it to get into the wrong hands (these are dead people doctor, D-E-A-D) and besides, he needed the exercise (does the word RUN mean anything to him?)This cosmic joke was being played on him because the rope he had absailed down on was now stuck in the fissure that was his only way in or out of this hole.This grave yard planet was very unstable tectonically.Massive quakes were happening all the time.Still he calculated that the chance of one happening and closing up his way out were slim considering the small amount of time it would take him to get down to the bottom and back up again.But that is why it is called chance; the chance of it happening was just as great.He rolled the dice and now had to pay for his stupidity.He just might have found another way out if the quake didn’t also send a boulder the size of his Tardis down on his left leg.This is what was now pinning him to the ground.And on top of it all it hurt very badly.The leg was most definitely broken, crushed was the better word for it.He couldn’t move the rock anymore than he could move a mountain which ironically this seemed to be the size of in his eyes.In the almost pitch blackness he thought he heard cries then realized in horror that the sounds were coming from his own mouth.He was so cold, colder than he had ever remember being.He attributed it to blood loss caused by his leg.But at the same time his normally spiky hair stuck to his forehead and beads of perspiration covered his brow.His cheeks were flushed and his core temperature was up.His body was going into shock.His right heart was failing while the left was beating double time to try to compensate.As if he was outside of himself he knew he was dying.There was no way out of this; if he stayed put he was going to die.Even if help arrived in the form of a living and breathing entity and just happened to find him and then was able to lift the boulder off of his leg the subsequent shock of it would kill him just as quickly.Nope, no getting out of this one alive.And sorry future selves but this is the end of the regeneration train, everybody off!He began laughing manically, deliriously.Floating in and out of consciousness he had a vision that he was on the surface, digging a grave with his true name on it.His hands were covered in dirt and blood as he dug into the hard surface.Finally when he was too exhausted to dig any further he laid down on his back in the shallow hole, crossed his arms across his chest and for the first time in he couldn’t remember when, gave up.   **

 

** The sign post up ahead was covered in dust.Barely legible it read Trlor 10340 miles. Why was that familiar?He felt a sense of dread about the place.He wanted to turn around but was curious.He weighed both emotions.‘Curiosity killed the cat’ he remembered from his travels on Earth but since he hated cats (and cat nuns especially) he got back in his vehicle and gunned it.   **

 

**  “How could you get us in this position?” a voice came from the seat to his left.   **

 

**  He had been driving aimlessly, avoiding the many holes in the road as best he could when the voice disturbed his internal reverie.He had been thinking about Rose, as he often did when he left his mind wander.He was remembering the look on her face after she told him she loved him and how much pain he had felt when he did not get a chance to tell her the same. **

 

**  “Ummm hello!You have not answered me, how could you possibly be that careless to get us stuck like this?” **

 

**  He glanced over to the passenger seat only to find a vaguely familiar face.Momentarily confused he then remembered that he had stopped to pick up a hitchhiker on the road.He was carrying a stick over his shoulder with a sack of what he suspected contained all his belongings.He seemed like a nice enough chap although he had a distinct habit of talking too much with his hands.Oh and he wore a suit and pants that were a bit too short.And a bow tie.He hated the bow tie.   **

 

_** Page 2 ** _

 

** “I mean seriously, of all the positions to put us in you get us stuck under a rock!” **

 

**  “Oh like you could have done any better” the doctor retorted, “you probably would have hung yourself with your damn bowtie” **

 

**  “Well we will never know now, will we?” his passenger nearly screamed out the answer, if for no other reason than to be heard above the wind noise as the Tardis careened at super high speeds along the road.  It was a beautiful day, warm and welcoming so he rolled down his window, his arm lazily riding the current as it hung outside.  The stranger glanced forward at what was up ahead and saw the clouds gathering, blocking out the twin suns letting ominous shadows play across the mountain range.   **

 

**  “Look it was a mistake alright?”  the doctor was now in the passenger seat and the stranger was driving.  How he switched positions was of no concern.  As always he let the world go by and never questioned.  In fact, barely noticed.  The one thing he did notice was that he was suddenly very tired and wanted to sleep.  That is why the stranger is driving, now he remembered, he was tired and the stranger offered to take over.  At least that must have been what happened.  He really wasn’t 100% sure.  No matter how it happened he just wished the driver would shut up so he could take a nap.  **

 

**  “Ok since you think you are so smart, what is the one thing you forgot?”  the driver was now looking straight at him.  “Come on now, you could not have forgotten this all together, it is in there somewhere.”   **

 

**  “STAY AWAKE AND THINK!”  the driver was in his face now as the Tardis drove itself down the highway.  “If I remember it then you remember it.”   **

 

**  “Even I know what he is talking about” came a voice from the back seat.  The doctor was exhausted but intrigued so he turned towards the sound.  “Oh this is almost too simple for him to remember” the words pouring out of a leather clad figure sitting directly behind him.   **

 

**  “If I had known you would be making such stupid mistakes I never would have let you drive in the first place.”  he leaned forward and hit the doctor on the back of the head as if to jar his memory.  All it did was make his head hurt more than it already was.  He was getting cold so he closed the window then a few minutes later opened it again because it was getting too warm.  If he didn’t know any better he would have thought he was getting sick.  He shivered again.   **

 

**  “You really can be a clueless bastard when you want to be” sighed the leather jacketed one, now in the drivers seat.  The doctor was in the back seat lying down.  He was so very tired and feeling so very ill.  Their voices came to him as if in a dream.   **

 

**  “We are going to need help” Mr Bowtie said to Mr. Leather.   **

**  “Yes we will and I know just who can” he replied. **

 

**  The boat was drifting aimlessly on the waves, no one was steering it which didn’t matter because it was  rudderless.   **

 

**  “Doctor” he could hear a woman’s voice calling to him, “Doctor, I love you” **

 

**  He woke up and saw her on the beach.  Standing there, the water lapping at her feet was Rose.  His Rose. **

 

**  “I love you too Rose Tyler” he yelled back into the wind. **

 

**  “I can’t hear you doctor” she was crying now, “you are fading away, please don’t disappear I need to talk to you!” **

 

_** Page 3 ** _

 

** He saw her standing there, her lovely blonde hair blowing in the gale force wind.  His boat seemed to be headed in the wrong direction so he took to paddling with his hands.  Still it was drifting further away from the beach.  In a last ditch effort to get to her he jumped over board and began to swim.  The water was icy cold, so cold that his legs were almost frozen underneath him.  He was sinking down, unable to keep himself afloat.  He was drowning in the blood red colored water.   **

 

**  He saw a hand reach under the surface so he grabbed at it, desperately needing to breathe.  He was dragged onto the beach, Rose’s lovely face looking down at him with concern.  She took a lock of hair that had fallen across her face and tucked it behind her ear, a habit that he had known so well.   One of the many things he missed about Rose.  He stared up into her lovely eyes for a moment and then closed his.  The swim had exhausted his last reserves of energy.  He had no more.  There was nothing left.  Even breathing was too much of an effort so he just stopped.  She gathered him in her arms and held him close.  He could feel her tears on his face as her mouth covered his.  In the most intimate of kisses she breathed life back into his still frame.  Over and over her lips covered his.  He inhaled sharply on his own, his back arching with the effort.  He coughed up the red water that had clogged his lungs and then did the most natural thing in the world that he could think of, he pulled her towards him and kissed her back.   She sighed against his mouth.  He had wanted to do that for as long as he could remember and now he was fulfilling that dream.  His hand laid gently against her thigh, caressing ever so lightly.  Her sigh turned into a moan.  She broke off the kiss, looked him in the eye and said with more seriousness than he could ever remember her sounding. **

 

**  “You have always been a thigh man, haven’t you Doctor?” **

 

**   A clap of thunder and he was back in the Tardis again except this time he was driving and the leather clad one had disappeared.  Mr. Bowtie was clapping. **

 

**  “Yep, it is coming back to you now.” **

 

**  The Doctor noticed his passenger’s hands were moving in slow motion as he clapped.  A small kernel of thought was beginning to form.  But he was still missing something, he could tell there was one piece of the puzzle that he still had yet to get.  He was back to sweating again in the closed up Tardis, unable to roll the windows down.  The heat was on and he could not shut it off.  His only recourse was to loosen his tie. **

 

**  ‘Bingo” his friend said, and with that he disappeared leaving him to his own thoughts. **

 

**  The aching in his legs, the sweet touch of Roses thigh, the slow motion of his friends hands, loosening his tie all added up to.....what?  He reached around the dirt floor of his prison and oh miracle upon miracles there it was.  His screwdriver.  He tested it and yes it still worked. It wouldn’t do a damn thing to the rocks around him but maybe, just maybe he could put it to good use after all.  It was a crazy thought but at least it was a possibility in a place where no possibilities existed.   **

 

**  He took his tie off and held it up in front of himself.  A smile played across his lips.  He remembered when he had regenerated into this form.  He remembered losing his hand to the Sycorax leader.  **

****

**  “Bingo indeed” he retorted as he knotted the tie around his leg, above the place where the boulder lay.  He would get only one chance at this so he had better make it a good one. **

 

_**Page 4** _

 

** If he passed out this would not work the way he wanted it to.  He reached around in the dirt again until his hand brushed against something wooden.  A casket lay just inches from him, broken in pieces from long ago.  He found two straight pieces.  “These will have to do” he muttered to himself.  He took the shorter of the two and placed it between his teeth, biting down.  The other he put through the knotted tourniquet on his thigh and twisted it.  He gasped and yelled against the pain, tempted to release it and chuck the whole idea.  Where would that leave you then?  so many small but powerful voices played in his head.  He readied himself and turned on the screwdriver.  He set it as high in frequency as it could go.  It had to be able to do physical damage at the cellular level, something it was not intended to do.  Not only did it need to be as sharp as a blade it had to be as hot as flame to cauterize the tissue at once.  If not he would surely bleed out.  He tested it against the broken casket and it burst into flame almost immediately.  He smothered it out quickly as he bit down hard on the wood between his teeth again.   **

** With renewed conviction he tapped the control on the screwdriver once more, turning it off and aiming it at the skin below the tie around his leg.  ‘Shame to waste such a nice tie’ was the last thought he had before turning on the screwdriver again, cutting the flesh and then bone of his leg.  A searing pain shot through his body, his right heart gave out and his left began to skip beats dangerously.  His hand shook violently and it was all he could do to keep it from cutting and burning healthy skin.  He screamed into his wooden gag, a scream of the most profound pain and anguish.  He had never felt anything like this and hoped, if he survived that he would never do so again.  He looked down as if in a haze at the leg that fell away from his body.  It was black and heralded a blood infection in the making.  He just hoped it had gotten it off in time.  And there it was, almost instantly he felt the heat of regeneration take hold.  The burning he had felt from the screwdriver almost paled in comparison.  He looked at his hands which began to glow, his breathing quickened, his heart raced even more.  At the very last moment of the change he did something he had only done once before, he pointed his hands toward the stump of his leg and seared the wound shut completely.  He let himself fall backwards onto the dirt and forced his breathing to slow.  He lifted both legs into the air and watched in amazement as a new leg grew out of the stump. **

 

**  “Witchcraft” said the Sycorax leader as the new hand grew where the old one had been.   **

 

**  “Timelord” he smiled. **

 

**  How long he lay there he wasn’t sure.  Could have been minutes, maybe hours.  He needed to get his other heart going so he tried hitting himself in the chest as hard as he could.  On the fourth attempt he felt it kick in and both hearts slowed to beat in unison again.  He turned over onto his stomach and, using his screwdriver looked down the shaft of the cave he was in.  There in the distance he could see where it took a turn upward and light shown down into the tunnel.  He began crawling for it, still dragging his leg behind him because it needed a bit of time to get used to this body it was attached to.  He pulled himself along and even though it took him quite a while to do it he finally was able to escape his prison and back up into the sight of the twin suns.  He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry so he did both.  All he could think about was getting off this hell planet, still not remembering why he was there in the first place.  He held onto a grave marker and stood on wobbly legs.  He took a few tentative steps and when he was convinced all was well he began walking towards the Tardis which was closer than he remembered it being when he landed there.  It was the Tardis after all that brought him there, against his better judgement.  She had her reasons he supposed.  Teaching him a lesson?  Could be.  There were always lessons to learn after all.  He knew where he was going next in any case, back to Earth, back to that strip of sand he left Rose, except this time he would pour out his heart to her while he was still able to.  He may not be able to touch her but he felt like he already had so the sight of her would be enough.  As he took off from the planet his eyes spotted a marker.  Surprised he focused in a bit more.   **

 

**  “Welcome to Trenzalor, have a peaceful day” **

 


End file.
